Dyson Racing scored its first American Le Mans Series pole of the season following a duel in qualifying between Guy Smith and Muscle Milk Pickett Racing’s Klaus Graf for the top starting position at Virginia International Raceway.

Smith, making his return to the No. 16 Lola B12/60 Mazda, reeled off a best lap of 1:35.965 in the 15-minute P1/P2 qualifying session. The Englishman edged out Graf’s No. 6 HPD ARX-03c by 0.204 seconds.

The news comes just days after Team USA – comprised of Dungey (MX1), Eli Tomac (MX2) and Justin Barcia (MX3/Open) – scored a runner-up finish to Team Belgium at the Motocross of Nations in Teutschenthal, Germany.

After a successful start to the weekend in Teutschenthal, Germany, where they qualified second overall, Team USA had high hopes entering Sunday’s 67th running of the Motocross of Nations. The lineup of Ryan Dungey (MX1), Eli Tomac (MX2), and Justin Barcia (MX3/Open) was one of the most formidable tandems in recent years and following a hard-to-swallow third-place finish one year prior, this trio wanted nothing more than to bring the Chamberlain Cup back to the states.

While Team USA was the group to beat throughout the afternoon on Sunday, a couple mistakes ended up costing the team its 23rd title at the illustrious event. Instead, it was Team Belgium, arguably the biggest threat to the U.S. coming into the event, that prevailed to claim its 15th MXoN crown, its first since 2004, with Team USA following just three points behind in second.

Chip Ganassi Racing added another Indianapolis 500 winner to its team Friday and dropped Honda for Chevrolet in an engine manufacturer switch that seemed to be in the works since the start of the season.

KV Racing must now replace reigning Indianapolis 500 winner Tony Kanaan, who turned down an offer to return to the team that rescued him just before the start of the 2011 season when Kanaan didn’t have a ride. The KV extension didn’t require the Brazilian to bring any sponsorship money to the team, but Kanaan chose instead to join Dario Franchitti, Scott Dixon and Charlie Kimball at Ganassi, which next year will field cars for five of the last seven Indy 500 winners.